Support NeoGAF

[cartman414]

Great game. Someone said it earlier: better than the sum of its parts. The action segments are hardly the best around, even limiting oneself to the SNES alone.

Or the NES/TG16/GEN/etc.

And the simulation segments aren't up to snuff compared to a fully developed sim game. But ActRaiser has the perfect balance between the two and they're developed into such small, tasty bite-sized nuggets that the game is immensely fun to play. It's one of those titles I revisit every now and then and have a blast shooting through in a few hours.

Well put. I still think the boss rush at the end is unbalanced though.

 

[thetrin]

What is he doing these days?

He did the music for the Wangan Midnight games.

SQUARE ENIX HEADQUARTERS CONFERENCE ROOM, INTERIOR

Executive: ...so it's decided. Final Fantasy VIII-2, VIII-3, and VIII-8/2, for mobile phones, PSP, and Blu-Ray Video. Any other new proposals?

Lackey: Sir, I've been doing some research on the Internet, and apparently in 1991 our company accidentally made one of the most brilliant games ever.

Executive: Us? You're sure.

Lackey: As near as I can figure. It was called Actraiser, and I was thinking maybe we could make another.

Executive: I'm liking the sound of this! Was this a Final Fantasy spinoff, or a Dragon Quest spinoff?

Lackey: Uh, neither, sir.

Executive: I don't understand. How can it be neither?

Lackey: I was baffled for a while, sir, but apparently we used to make games that were neither Final Fantasy nor Dragon Quest.

Executive: Oh, I get it: like how Itadaki Street has both of them! Green light.

Lackey: No, like neither.

Executive: I have no idea what you're even talking about. It's just a bunch of pops and snaps, like that African clicking language.

Lackey: Am I fired, sir?

Executive: I don't even think I work here.

I'm totally going to get some friends together to film this. This is on your head, Chris! :lol

 

[Herpes Reasons]

i wonder how they could handle a proper sequal. and please don't mention GOW in the same vein as Actraiser. A2 was shit btw.

 

[emilio]

Fillmore (Filmoa?) is still one of the best vg songs ever conceived.

 

[Stumpokapow]

If you use the stardust magic, you're a weakling. Period.

 

[djtiesto]

SQUARE ENIX HEADQUARTERS CONFERENCE ROOM, INTERIOR

Executive: ...so it's decided. Final Fantasy VIII-2, VIII-3, and VIII-8/2, for mobile phones, PSP, and Blu-Ray Video. Any other new proposals?

Lackey: Sir, I've been doing some research on the Internet, and apparently in 1991 our company accidentally made one of the most brilliant games ever.

Executive: Us? You're sure.

Lackey: As near as I can figure. It was called Actraiser, and I was thinking maybe we could make another.

Executive: I'm liking the sound of this! Was this a Final Fantasy spinoff, or a Dragon Quest spinoff?

Lackey: Uh, neither, sir.

Executive: I don't understand. How can it be neither?

Lackey: I was baffled for a while, sir, but apparently we used to make games that were neither Final Fantasy nor Dragon Quest.

Executive: Oh, I get it: like how Itadaki Street has both of them! Green light.

Lackey: No, like neither.

Executive: I have no idea what you're even talking about. It's just a bunch of pops and snaps, like that African clicking language.

Lackey: Am I fired, sir?

Executive: I don't even think I work here.

:lol

Was kind of expecting the ending of this to be "we'll make a sequel, cellphone-only!" though.

 

[thetrin]

If you use the stardust magic, you're a weakling. Period.

But it's SO TEMPTING

 

[Fantasmo]

What is with you people that hate Actraiser 2?

It has
-perfect play control
-an awesome flight mechanic that works very well once you get the hang of it
-great graphics
-amazing music
-awesome bosses
-requires patience, timing, and tons of practice

Maybe those of you who liked ActRaiser enjoyed it for its presentation, story, simulation areas, and simplicity, and therefore disliked ActRaiser 2.

Although I know it was made for a different target audience, it definitely gets an unfair bad rap.

Like Contra 4, Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins, Super Ghouls n Ghosts, Devil May Cry 3, and Ninja Gaiden, it's made for the hardest of hardcore. It's not made for the impatient, but although it's extremely hard, it's never unfair.

 

[thetrin]

The simulation areas really were like, HALF the game.

 

[cartman414]

The simulation areas really were like, HALF the game.

True. Too bad the other half wasn't quite as good at what it did.

 

[thetrin]

True. Too bad the other half wasn't quite as good at what it did.

The sidescrolling? I thought the action levels were great. They're pretty rigid, sure, but still pretty damn fun.

 

[Stumpokapow]

What is with you people that hate Actraiser 2?

NA release was BUTCHERED in translation.

ActRaiser 2 is a video game love letter to Renaissance-era deuterocanonical Christian art and fiction (The Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, The Garden of Earthly Delights, The Creation of Adam, etc). It really is beautiful despite the fact that a lot of the exposition from ActRaiser was cut out along with the Sim mode. The best part is probably the transition from The Tower of Babel, which is a very epic level, to the descent through Hell, culminating with an interactive version of Satan from the Divine Comedy.

By relabeling God to Master, all of the Seven Sins to secular terms, the Tower of Babel to the Tower of Souls, and many other small changes, a lot of the symbolism of the game is ruined. So it's not just that the Sim mode was removed, it's that the whole character of the game and its power as a narrative is gutted.

It's not that either of the games had epic or complex stories, it's that within the limited scope of the stories they told, they did a fantastic job. ActRaiser 2 was really compromised by removing most of the exposition and neutering what exposition was left by secularizing it.

 

[cartman414]

The sidescrolling? I thought the action levels were great. They're pretty rigid, sure, but still pretty damn fun.

They're merely okay. There are a lot of better games in terms of side-scrolling action out there that don't get as much respect.

 

[madara]

Yeah imagine me Summer CES my first trade show, unveiling the super nintendo during this 1991 event. There is ActRaiser on a huge ass screen, it was love at first sight. Nintendo chick was hitting on me while I was in Mario with Me video line but who had time to pay any real attention to that. Super Mario World, F-Zero, ActRaiser, Final Fantasy 4, Castlevania, G&G, Joe and Mac and 40 other snes games had my full attention. :lol

ActRaiser 3 going back to the roots, believe!

 

[madara]

NA release was BUTCHERED in translation.

ActRaiser 2 is a video game love letter to Renaissance-era deuterocanonical Christian art and fiction (The Divine Comedy, Paradise Lost, The Garden of Earthly Delights, The Creation of Adam, etc). It really is beautiful despite the fact that a lot of the exposition from ActRaiser was cut out along with the Sim mode. The best part is probably the transition from The Tower of Babel, which is a very epic level, to the descent through Hell, culminating with an interactive version of Satan from the Divine Comedy.

By relabeling God to Master, all of the Seven Sins to secular terms, the Tower of Babel to the Tower of Souls, and many other small changes, a lot of the symbolism of the game is ruined. So it's not just that the Sim mode was removed, it's that the whole character of the game and its power as a narrative is gutted.

It's not that either of the games had epic or complex stories, it's that within the limited scope of the stories they told, they did a fantastic job. ActRaiser 2 was really compromised by removing most of the exposition and neutering what exposition was left by secularizing it.

A dude, is your IQ like 180? Because I feel even more stupid now for some reason.

 

[Teddman]

NA release was BUTCHERED in translation.

Does the JPN release of Actraiser 2 have English text, for stuff like level titles, etc.? How much story is there in Japanese? It'd be nice to play that version.

 

[tnw]

SQUARE ENIX HEADQUARTERS CONFERENCE ROOM, INTERIOR

Executive: ...so it's decided. Final Fantasy VIII-2, VIII-3, and VIII-8/2, for mobile phones, PSP, and Blu-Ray Video. Any other new proposals?

Lackey: Sir, I've been doing some research on the Internet, and apparently in 1991 our company accidentally made one of the most brilliant games ever.

Executive: Us? You're sure.

Lackey: As near as I can figure. It was called Actraiser, and I was thinking maybe we could make another.

Executive: I'm liking the sound of this! Was this a Final Fantasy spinoff, or a Dragon Quest spinoff?

Lackey: Uh, neither, sir.

Executive: I don't understand. How can it be neither?

Lackey: I was baffled for a while, sir, but apparently we used to make games that were neither Final Fantasy nor Dragon Quest.

Executive: Oh, I get it: like how Itadaki Street has both of them! Green light.

Lackey: No, like neither.

Executive: I have no idea what you're even talking about. It's just a bunch of pops and snaps, like that African clicking language.

Lackey: Am I fired, sir?

Executive: I don't even think I work here.

don't forget to gackt-ify the master and make rediculously long john woo style cut scenes.

 

[Jackson]

I loved Act Raiser... great game that went unnoticed...

Drawn to Life drew some design inspiration from Act Raiser for sure

 

[ckeur]

Just picked up this game on the VC, and wow... this game is amazing. I really enjoy all the aspects of this game and really wish there was a new game in this series. I hear that AR2 took out the sim portion, but a proper sequel would need the sim portion. They go hand in hand in this game and really tie everything together, which seems very odd if you have not played the game on your own.